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Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Review: Misfit - Jon Skovron

Published: September 1st 2011, AmuletPages: 362 pages, paperbackSeries/standalone?: StandaloneAcquired: Kindly sent for review by the publisher

Summary (from Goodreads): Jael Thompson has never really fit in. She’s changed schools too many times to count. The only family she’s ever known is her father, a bitter ex-priest who never lets her date and insists she attend the strictest Catholic school in Seattle. And her mother—well, she was a five thousand year old demon. That doesn’t exactly help.

But on her sixteenth birthday, her father gives her a present that brings about some unexpected changes. Some of the changes, like strange and wonderful powers and the cute skater boy with a knack for science, are awesome. But others, like the homicidal demon seeking revenge on her family? Not so much.

Steeped in mythology, this is an epic tale of a heroine who balances old world with new, science with magic, and the terrifying depths of the underworld with the ordinary halls of high school.

My review: Misfit is definitely not the sort of read I'd usually go for. I like my tales contemporary and paranormal entity-free, for the most part. However, there was something that drew me towards Misfit and I'm glad I took a chance on it, as I was pleasantly surprised.

While I wouldn't say the plot particularly brings anything new to the table I was seriously impressed with the way Skovron presented his characters and developed them through the novel. Instead of the often stereotypical characters I'm coming across more and more in paranormal YA fiction I found Jael, Britt, Rob and the rest of the cast wholly true to life and really interesting to read about.

I like that they each had their own distinct personalities, flaws and journeys of discovery throughout Misfit. We weren't presented with a bog standard Mary Jane and 'super hot but super mysterious' bad boy love interest - I think Rob's character impressed me the most as he completed went against the archetypcal 'dangerous hero' that keeps cropping up time and time again. He actually had a personality - shocker.

Skovron's writing was great, as well. There was so much back story in Misfit and I really enjoyed getting to know the history of the characters, especially Jael and her family. I haven't found too many YA novels where a father is present and it's the mother who is away from the scene so I liked that Skovron changed things up a little bit from the norm.

Misfit's certainly an interesting novel and I think it definitely stands up well in the horrendously over-saturated paranormal market. This one is better than most and I did really enjoy it. Recommended.

First line: Jael Thompson looks at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and frowns.

Misfit is currently a standalone, but Mr. Skovron was kid enough to reply to my email asking if it will be a series. he says that he and his editor are talking about it, but are not quite sure. I sure hope it will! I love it!